South Carolina shooting survivors discuss forgiveness at Quinnipiac

From left, Rose Simmons, Polly Sheppard and the Rev. Anthony Thompson at Quinnipiac University Fridat, speaking about forgiveness as survivors of the mass shooting at a South Carolina Church.

From left, Rose Simmons, Polly Sheppard and the Rev. Anthony Thompson at Quinnipiac University Fridat, speaking about forgiveness as survivors of the mass shooting at a South Carolina Church.

Photo: Clare Dignan / Hearst Connecticut Media

Photo: Clare Dignan / Hearst Connecticut Media

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From left, Rose Simmons, Polly Sheppard and the Rev. Anthony Thompson at Quinnipiac University Fridat, speaking about forgiveness as survivors of the mass shooting at a South Carolina Church.

From left, Rose Simmons, Polly Sheppard and the Rev. Anthony Thompson at Quinnipiac University Fridat, speaking about forgiveness as survivors of the mass shooting at a South Carolina Church.

Photo: Clare Dignan / Hearst Connecticut Media

South Carolina shooting survivors discuss forgiveness at Quinnipiac

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HAMDEN — University members and the public came together Friday to hear from three people whose capacity for healing has been through the ultimate test.

The survivors and family members of those who died in the mass shooting at a South Carolina church three years ago spoke at Quinnipiac University’s Center for Religion about finding forgiveness for the man who killed their friends and family members.

In 2015, white supremacist Dylann Roof, then 21, killed nine African Americans when he open fired on a Bible study in the historic Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. He was convicted last year of 33 federal crimes, including hate crimes and obstruction of religion, for which he was given the death penalty.

“Forgiveness means pretty much getting myself off the hook and it has nothing to do with the person that you’re forgiving, because your forgiving that person really helps you find peace with yourself and find peace with God,” said the Rev. Anthony Thompson, whose newly-ordained wife, Myra Thompson, was leading a Bible study at the church when she was killed. “It frees you from any kind of anger or hatred or anything you’ve been harboring, especially against the person who may have done the wrong, in this case Dylann Roof.”

Thompson spoke about how he came to forgive Roof in the moment he confronted his wife’s killer at Roof’s bond hearing. That’s where he told Roof he and his family forgave him and that Roof needed to repent and confess to God.

“I have no ill feelings about him, no anger or hatred,” Thompson said. “Forgiving him was about so he would have no control in my life or my children’s lives, or have any hold on us whatsoever. Forgiveness is peace, really.”

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A survivor of the 2015 South Carolina mass shooting in the Emanuel African Methodist Church and family members of victims speaking at the

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“This event allows us to explore a variety issues that we in contemporary society face — domestic terrorism and the role religion can play at a deep level,” said Executive Director of University Religious Life the Rev. Jordan Lenaghan. “They’re talking about how drawing on religious faith they were able to forgive a heinous violent action against their families.”

A mass shooting is one in which at least four people are killed or injured. This year, 247 mass-shooting incidents have occurred across the country, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive, including one as recent as Thursday in Cincinnati, where three people were killed and two were hospitalized by a man who went on a shooting rampage at the Fifth Third Center.

Polly Sheppard was in the church the night of the shooting, but she said God spared her life.

“I remember the shots being fired,” she said. “I heard a loud voice shouting of course if was Felicia Sanders saying, “Miss Polly get down, he’s shooting everyone.” And for that I will forever be grateful. Through the grace of God she saved our lives. As I was under the table he approached me and said ‘Did I shoot you yet?’ Then he said ‘I’m not going to shoot you. I’m going to leave you to tell the story.’ Some say the killer spared my life. I don’t accept that. He didn’t let me live. God let me live. He (Roof) will never get that credit from me.”

Sheppard recalled how the event unfolded that night and how her faith helped her find forgiveness in her heart for what happened to her and her community.

“I didn’t need confrontation with Roof,” she said. “What I really focused on was what my faith taught me, and that’s you have to forgive others in order for you to be forgiven. We’ve all been in different situations and messes and God forgave us. You have to in turn forgive who trespasses against you. That’s the only way you can heal. That’s the healing process.”

Sheppard said forgiveness is not about letting the person who did wrong off the hook, but allowing herself to let go of the anger she was carrying.

“It gives you that peace of mind and you can actually deal and go forward and feel good about going forward because Dylann is going forward, but if you stay there and harbor all those bad feelings it actually messes you up.”

Rose Simmons, whose father, the Rev. Dr. Daniel Lee Simmons Sr., was killed in the church, said she forgave Roof the moment she saw him on the news, before she knew he had killed her father, but when she learned about it, her forgiveness didn’t change. It was something she had been practicing, which her father taught her.

“Forgiveness is for your peace and your peace of mind,” Simmons said. “When you come to a situation where you must forgive and you don’t, then it will rob you of that peace and process to move on.”

When she finally confronted Roof, she was able to extend her hand in friendship the way her father and other victims did when they welcomed Roof into the bible study as a stranger. She urged the crowd to practice forgiveness because it’s inside everyone.

“A lot of people speak of Dylann Roof because he was the perpetrator of this crime, but there were nine victims and I urge people to learn their names and to remember their lives,” she said.